It's dead good! (Dead Man's Footsteps - Peter James)

Member Name: gemzeh

Product:	Dead Man's Footsteps - Peter James
Date:	05/01/09 (94 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Gripping, interesting plot, great ending

Disadvantages: Gets a little bit silly in the middle

I am an avid reader of Peter James's books in the series of novels he has written about Detective Superintendent Roy Grace. The books tend to have really gripping twisting plots that I can get lost in - which can make them a bit dangerous to read on trains as I am often so involved in the book that I miss my stop! When I saw the latest book in the series, Dead Man's Footsteps, was for sale, I picked it up immediately to find out what happens next in the world of Roy Grace (Brighton and Hove!)

All of the books in this series have the word 'dead' in the title, which immediately gives you a sinister feeling before you have even opened the cover, as you know a dead body is going to turn up at some point. In the case of Dead Man's Footsteps, you don't have to wait too long for the discovery of a dead body to be announced - a woman's body is found residing in a storm drain. Thus the plot draws you in with the creepy discovery, and the reader is taken behind the scenes of the investigation into what happened to the dead woman, as led by Roy Grace. As with the other Peter James novels in this series, each chapter contains a different thread of the story that connects to the murder investigations, but you don't quite know how they connect until later on in the book.

At the start of the novel, we are also introduced to a man who is in New York on September 11th 2001, and see his perspective of the events that day, and what he goes through. I found this part of the story intriguing, as it is easy to think of the September 11 attacks as an overview without thinking too much about the individual stories of those who experienced it.

In a separate thread of the plot, we are also introduced to a woman called Abby, who seems to be terrified of being followed, or that something or someone nasty from her past is trying to track her down. This storyline instantly drew me in as I wanted to find out if she was just a little bit obsessive, or if she is justified in her fear. In previous books in the series, the characters we are initially introduced to have sometimes ended up in a body bag, so I wondered if Abby was justified in her fears, or if the same fate awaited her and she was about to meet her doom!

Part of the fun of reading the book was trying to figure out how all these stories connect with the main murder investigation as we are unsure how they relate to the dead woman (though as this is a Peter James novel, of course they must be). It also enjoyed reading about the instantly likeable character of Roy Grace, who is the constant from one book to the next. As Roy investigates the cases, we get an insight into the detective superintendent's life when he isn't doing police work. As well as drinking too much and being mocked by his peers, Grace spends a large amount of time thinking of the disappearance of his wife, which happened some years earlier. This clearly comes to Roy's mind when he is investigating disappearances or murders, as he finds himself wondering if his wife met the same fate. This adds another dimension to the book as we have more to consider when they find the dead body: could this be Roy Grace's wife?

This is a good book. It is fast paced, thrilling and has suspense and tension in all the right places. As with the other books in this series, I found myself completely hooked throughout, (which is handy as it is 400 odd pages long). At times though, it can be a little simple in the middle of the investigation, as the police miraculously pick up on very tenuous clues that link parts of the case together, which I find slightly unbelievable! This book is also not as good as some of the other novels in the series (in particular the first book, Dead Simple, which has an even more unusual plot and doesn't suffer from the tenuous clues part in the middle). Having said that, I don't think this book suffers from being one in a series of books, and it still works as a stand alone book.

Though I would recommend the rest of the series, if you haven't read the previous novels, it shouldn't impact on your reading of this book. Important parts of the back story are explained so you would understand everything important (but this isn't done enough to irritate readers who have read the previous books).

Overall, the plot is intriguing, the characters are well thought out, but best of all is the ending, which will completely hit you by surprise and make you desperately want to read the next one!

Summary: A great page turner